At the novel's center is Durtal, a writer obsessed with the life of one of the blackest figures in history, Gilles de Rais--child murderer, sadist, necrophile and practitioner of all the black arts. The book's authentic, extraordinarily detailed descriptions of the Black Mass have never been surpassed.

At the novel's center is Durtal, a writer obsessed with the life of one of the blackest figures in history, Gilles de Rais--child murderer, sadist, necrophile and practitioner of all the black arts. The book's authentic, extraordinarily detailed descriptions of the Black Mass have never been surpassed.